


College Days

by spreadyourwingsandfly



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Denial, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fear, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Male-Female Friendship, More Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 08:19:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14911785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spreadyourwingsandfly/pseuds/spreadyourwingsandfly
Summary: Someone bumps into you, spilling your iced coffee down your pristine white shirt.‘’Cold, cold, cold!,’’ you squeal, watching as the brown liquid soaks into the white fabric.‘’Miss, I am so sorry. Here, let me help!’’‘’No, no, that is okay,’’ you sigh, but take the napkins that the strangers offer you.You suddenly feel a jacket over your shoulders, and you look up to see the young man that gave it to you.Calling him handsome would be an understatement. His skin is glowing beautifully in the sun, his teeth are beautiful, his eyes are beautiful.This boy is fine.Follow Reader and T'Challa through their college years- through every break up, fight, make up, and random moments of awkwardness.





	College Days

**Author's Note:**

> Okay- I have never written a story like this before, so I did my best! I hope it is good- I want to experiment with different writing types.  
> Mentions of unrequited love, breaking up, and friendship troubles. second guessing and nervousness.

Okay- I have never written a story like this before, so I did my best! I hope it is good- I want to experiment with different writing types.  
Mentions of unrequited love, breaking up, and friendship troubles. second guessing and nervousness.

 

Freshman Year  
You are strolling down the sidewalk on our university’s campus, head bopping to the song that is playing that is playing through your headphones.  
You are three days into your freshman year, and you already love this place. Your roommate is nice, your dorm is close to a majority of your classes, and you’ve already gotten a head start on next week’s homework. You are relaxing in the moment, relishing the feeling of accomplishment.   
Until a dark cloud zooms in and ruins what was an otherwise fantastic day.  
Someone bumps into you, spilling your iced coffee down your pristine white shirt.  
‘’Cold, cold, cold!,’’ you squeal, watching as the brown liquid soaks into the white fabric.  
‘’Miss, I am so sorry. Here, let me help!’’  
‘’No, no, that is okay,’’ you sigh, but take the napkins that the strangers offer you.  
You suddenly feel a jacket over your shoulders, and you look up to see the young man that gave it to you.   
Calling him handsome would be an understatement. His skin is glowing beautifully in the sun, his teeth are beautiful, his eyes are beautiful.  
This boy is fine.  
‘’My apologies, miss. I did not see where I am going. I can have your shirt cleaned for you if would like.’’  
‘’No, no, that’s fine! I got this at the thrift store. I spill on myself all of the time, I have become practically immune to it.’’  
You realize that you are wearing his jacket, and attempt to slide it off to give it back to him before he stops you.  
‘’Please, take it. It looks good on you Besides, I am about to ask you for a favor: could you please tell me where room Hawthorne Hall 341 is?’’  
‘’Do you have English-W 131 with Professor Jenkins? Because that is where I am going.’’  
‘’Great!,’’ he says a bit too enthusiastically, ‘’I mean, would you mind if I walked with you?’’  
‘’No, not at all. Let’s go.’’  
The walk is long, and is, unfortunately filled with silence.  
Not the comfortable kind.  
The awkward kind.  
The kind that has you counting how many steps it takes to get to your destination.  
55.  
You enter the lecture hall, which can’t seat more than seventy-five people. One of the huge perks of going to a smaller university is that you get more one-on-one time with your professor. And if you’re going to graduate in four-five years, you need all the help you can get.  
‘’Would you mind if I sat next to you,’’ the young man questions, although the class is nearly empty since you still have fifteen minutes.  
‘’No, I don’t mind,’’ you say as you climb to the highest level of seating.  
‘’Thank you kindly. My name is T’Challa, by the way. T’Challa Udaku. I know that we did not get to do formal introductions earlier.’’  
‘’No we did not. I am Y/N Y/L/N, the girl who is currently wearing your coffee. It smells like vanilla. What a waste.’’  
‘’Well, I would not say that it was a waste. I do believe I have made a new friend.’’  
From that moment, you knew you were going to enjoy your college experience.  
Sophomore Year  
You and T'Challa became close after that day. You studied together every Wednesday, did your homework together, and had dinner together once a week. He was your partner for group assignments, he was the one who accompanied you to events where you would have felt awkward going alone.  
Well, him and the girl he had initially introduced as his sister- Okoye.  
Which is how, after a summer spent apart were the only way to keep in touch was through video chats and messaging.  
‘’So why can’t you come see me,’’ you’d pouted when he first video chated you.  
‘’You know why, Y/N,’’ he’d laugh.  
T’Challa had waited until the very last minute to reveal to you that he was the whole prince of a whole country. He’d wanted to make sure that this was genuine friendship. And when he realized that it was, he’d told you the truth. And you promised not to tell anyone. It was easy, too. For one, you kept your friend group small. There was you, T’Challa, Alyssa, and Anthony. For another thing, T’Challa’s name was known to the world, but not his face. King T’Chaka had taken every precaution to ensure that his son’s privacy could be protected for as long as possible, or until he was ready.  
Judging from how well you took the news- after you questioned him for two hours- he figured that’d be soon. And it was. He’d let the story slip, even giving an interview for the journalism club. Still, he kept his friend group small, with just the people he knew liked him for him.  
Now, you’re sitting in Anthony’s dorm with T’Challa, Anthony and Alyssa, watching a movie. T’Challa’s back is against your wall as you lounge next to him, feet in his lap. Okoye is on the floor, still under the guise of being T’Challa’s sister. Alyssa is sitting in T’Challa’s chair that is pulled away from his desk, and Anthony is on the floor in front of her as she braids his hair.  
Alyssa and Anthony have a very unique friendship, similar to your and T’Challa’s. They’re best friends, but everyone always thinks there is more to it, trying to put them in the ‘’Will They or Won’t They’’ plot line.  
You and T’Challa never fell into that. Was there attraction on your part? Of curse. The boy is still fine, and he is definitely growing into himself. He is a good man, and he’s showing that each and every day.  
And you know he’s attracted to you, too. You still remember the way he looked at you in your floor length, emerald green dress at the Freshmen Formal earlier this year in May. He’d been your unofficial date, seeing as you , him, Alyssa and Anthony all went in a group. You just spent most of your time dancing with T’Challa, especially since he was graceful during the slow dances.  
Right now, he’s currently rubbing your ankles, as you’ve been on your feet all day.  
‘’You have got to get some more comfortable shoes. You know you are going to be on your feet all day as a teacher.’’  
‘’It’s only one day a week. This is just my internship. I can handle it,’’ you sigh, relaxing into his touch again.  
‘’You may cause permanent foot problems, beautiful.’’  
It’s not the first time that he’s called you that. But he calls Alyssa that as well. You’re a very tight knit group.   
And you’re not jealous when he calls her that.  
No, you’re not.  
‘’Can you two either shut up or make out,’’ Alyssa asks, ‘’I can’t hear the movie.’’  
Okoye, as graceful as she is, chokes on her water, stifling her laughter by burying her face in her arm.  
Okoye is always teasing T’Challa about the nature of your relationship with each other, but he doesn’t see it as hostile. Besides, you know it’s coming from a place of love- she does not want T’Challa to get his heart broken with… whatever it is you two have going on here, and you understand.  
‘’I mean, Y/N does have nice lips, but I am rather busy rubbing her feet because she doesn’t listen and wears heels to her internship.’’  
‘’And T’Challa’s lips are dry,’’ you quip, and he looks at you in faux hurt.  
‘’Please. They are never chapped.’’  
‘’I’m looking at them right now, boo.’’  
‘’For the love of… just date already,’’ Anthony jokes, using the line T’Challa had used on him and Alyssa just weeks prior.  
It’s not that you haven’t entertained the thought of dating T’Challa. Who wouldn't’? He’s sweet, he’s smart, he is involved. He is currently treasure of the Black Student Union, he volunteers at the homeless shelter, he is always on the Dean’s List.  
‘’It’s getting late. Maybe Y/N and I should be getting back to our dorm. We can always finish the movie tomorrow. Besides- it’s boring,’’ Alyssa shrugs, never one to hesitate and hold back what she is thinking.  
‘’I will walk with you. Okoye, I trust that you are heading back to your apartment?’’  
‘’I am,’’ Okoye says, knowing that this means T’Challa is relieving her of her duties for the time being, ‘’I shall see you all soon. Good night.’’  
You say your goodbye’s, and T’Challa escorts you and Alyssa to your dorm.  
She stays on the first floor of the building, and you on the second in your single bedroom dorm. So after T’Challa and you say goodnight to her, he walks you to yours.  
‘’I hope that it did not make you feel uncomfortable,’’ he tells you as you stop outside of your door, fishing your keys out of your pocket.  
‘’No, no, you did not. I understand- I know that we’re just friends. People just like to joke, tough, Why, does it make you uncomfortable?’’  
‘’No, no, not at all. To be attached to a woman who is so beautiful and smart? How could that be a bad thing, Y/N?’’  
‘’Stop,’’ you laugh, staring at him, ‘’You don’t have to say stuff like that. I am already your friend.’’  
‘’I only speak he truth,’’ he stuffs his hands into his pockets, ‘’You know I’m attracted to you.’’  
‘’And I to you, T’Challa.’’  
‘’So , the real question, I guess is this: ‘Are we going to do something about it?.’’  
That throws you, because that question can carry so many different meanings. And you don’t know what it means to him, but you know what it means to you. You want to be more than friends, and yet you don’t. You want something complex and something simple. But relationships are never ever simple.   
So, essentially, what you hear when he asks that question is: ‘’Is it worth giving this a shot, no matter the outcome?’’  
‘’Come here,’’ you take his hand, guiding him into your dorm room, where he sits on the couch pressed against your wall.  
‘’T’Challa,’’ you sigh, sitting down in your desk chair and facing him, ‘’You know I care about you. But you are one of my best friends, and I’d hate to lose you.’’  
‘’You would not lose me, Y/N. You know that I would not treat you any differently if we tried to see where this led and it did not work out.’’  
‘’I know. I’m worried that you’d see me differently, or that I’d see you differently. I don’t want to lose this friendship,’’ you stress, and he nods.  
‘’Alright. I would not want to try to convince you of something that you don’t want. Are we going to be okay?’’  
‘’We are,’’ you promise, giving him a hug when he stands, ‘’I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast?’’  
‘’I would not miss it,’’ T’Challa grins genuinely, ‘’I will see you at the diner at ten.’’  
He presses a kiss to your forehead, and for a brief moment you wish he’d press one to your lips.  
And you almost take the initiative and kiss him when he pulls away, staring into your y/e/c eyes with his deep, brown ones.  
But you don’t. Instead, you let him out, demanding that he messages you when he gets back to his dorm.  
And you try not to wonder if you made the right choice.  
The next day, you meet T’Challa at your favorite diner. You go there every Saturday morning to catch up, decompress from the week, and to get some homework done together. T’Challa is a Political Science major and you’re an Education major, but it works. He lets you practice lessons on him, you proofread his papers, and he has even asked if you’d ever consider working abroad.  
‘’I would. Maybe you, Alyssa, Anthony and I can study abroad senior year,’’ you say as you take another sip of your orange juice, ‘’It’d be fun.’’  
Before he can answer, Tessa Atkins, a girl from your and T’Challa’s English class last year, glides over.  
‘’Hey, T’Challa.’’  
‘’Hello, Y.N,’’ she says to you, but without the same flirtatious tone she’d use don T’Challa. It wasn’t mean, just different.  
You’d definitely noticed her attraction to T’Challa last year. It was there before she found out that he is a prince, but you’d be lying if you said that you didn’t feel just a tinge of jealousy.  
Just a tinge.  
‘’I’ll call you later to discuss our plans. Bye, y'all,’’ she sashays away, and you turn to T’Challa in confusion.  
‘’Plans? What plans?’’  
‘’Oh, she asked me to accompany her to the movie night on campus,’’ T’Challa explains.  
‘’You’re going on a date?’’  
‘’If you would like to call it that,’’ he shrugs, ‘’I Haven’t dated a lot. You know this. Nakia was my first and last girlfriend before I moved here. I am not so sure that this is a date. I think that we are just hanging out.’’  
‘’The way you hang out with me,’’ you ask, stressing the last word in effort to convert what you are really trying to ask.  
He looks up at you then, seeing the meaning of your questions in your eyes, ‘’No. It is different.’’  
And he changes the subject, so you leave it at that.  
But it stays burning in your mind for the rest of the day.  
It’s three months later that they start dating, and you’ve never been more grateful for Christmas/Holiday/Winter break in your life/. You retreat back home, spend your time with friends from home and working to raise extra money for the next semester. The calls between you and T’Challa are becoming less frequent, and you know that you have no right to be feeling the way that you do.  
You’re the one that told him that it wouldn’t work, and you still believe that.  
It doesn’t stop you from wishing that you’d just taken the change.  
And yet it does.  
And you’re confused.   
You’re happy for him, but also hurt, and you’re still trying to figure out how that can be.  
‘’Y/N, are you okay?,’’ your coworker, Justin, asks.  
‘’I am,’’ you insist, clearing a table, ‘’I’m fine.’’  
‘’You’ve been acting like this for the whole day. You literally just put the napkin holder in the bin,’’ he tells you, and you sigh, moving to the next table after placing the metal napkin holder back on the table.  
‘’I just have a lot on my mind,’’ you shrug, and you wish he’d let it go.  
He does not.  
‘’Well, maybe you and I can hang out tonight. Go to dinner. It always helps to talk about your feelings.’’  
You tell him you’ll think about it.  
Mull it over for the rest of your shift.  
Agree.  
Three weeks later, you’re heading back to school with a boyfriend.  
Conversations between you and T’Challa pick up on conversations, and things are back to how they used to be.  
Sort of.  
You don’t spend much time together, but you have dinner together every Wednesday and do homework together on Thursday’s.  
Justin takes the train to see you every weekend, and you double date with T’Challa and Tessa. It’s nice, though, because you and T’Challa are still friends, he’s happy, and you’re happy.  
You’re content.  
You hope things can stay this nice.

Junior Year  
And they do. You’re in love and it is nice and amazing and strange and wonderful and terrifying.  
It’s a whirlwind of emotions that you don’t really want to end.  
But it does, when he visits you for the last time to break up with you in person, saying that he feels like you two aren’t clicking anymore.  
That your heart isn’t in it anymore.  
And he’s right.  
Because it isn’t.   
Which is how you find yourself at T’Challa’s apartment, thirty minutes away from campus. It’s the October of your junior year of college, and tomorrow would’ve been your ten month anniversary with Justin.  
Now, you’re lying across T’Challa’s bed with him as you both listen to a playlist of your favorite songs, reflecting back on heart breaks.  
‘’This really hurts,’’ you laugh sadly, sniffling as T’Challa brings a hand up to rub your shoulder comfortingly, your head on his own shoulder, ‘’It sucks.’’  
‘’I know,’’ he sighs, ‘’Breakups are never easy. But fear not. We have a long weekend due to fall break. We can sit here and listen to music and watch movies.’’  
You laugh then, genuinely, and long and loud. He laughs, too, and it’s nice just to not feel the weight of everything else for a little while.  
It’s three weeks later that you are taking T’Challa ice skating for the first time, laughing as he falls to the ice.  
‘’Are you alright?’’  
‘’I am. You may laugh now, Y/N, but you will not when I am the Black Panther. I will have grace and agility,’’ he smirks, leaning on you for support as you help him to stand.  
‘’For someone who’s never skated before, you are doing fairly well.’’  
It’s a nice way to calm down, enjoying Thanksgiving break since neither of you went back home. Instead, you had a turkey dinner with him yesterday, and he made you the same pastries that his mother, Ramonda, often makes for him when he is home for the summer.  
‘’You look beautiful under these fluorescent lights,’’ he tells you, and you burst out laughing as he takes your hand again, letting him guide you around the rink.  
‘’Thank you. I’m still going to laugh at you if you fall.’’   
And fall he does.   
Right on top of you.  
Talk about awkward.  
‘’I’m sorry,’’ he apologized, bracing himself against the ice to roll off of you, ‘’Maybe we should take a break? We can get something warm to drink?’’  
‘’Yeah, that sounds nice.’’  
Even though you kind of wanted that moment to last a little bit longer.  
You find yourself rushing into T’Challa’s apartment, soaked from the freezing cold, November rain.  
‘’You can get undressed in the bathroom. I will get you a shirt to borrow, then take our stuff downstairs to get them dried.’’  
‘’Thank you, T’Challa,’’ you slip into his bathroom, pulling off your soaking wet clothes.  
Sure enough, he leaves a pair of his pajamas for you outside of the bathroom door, which you slip into.   
He takes your clothes downstairs before returning with a pizza, ‘’I ran next door to that pizzeria. Got your favorite. I will take care of dinner tonight.’’  
‘’Such a gentleman,’’ you smile, taking some glasses down and preparing for dinner.  
And falling even more in love with this man.  
‘’Are you going to be alright,’’ T’Challa asks, referring the scene you’d witnessed earlier.  
It was Tessa arriving at the skating rink with her new boyfriend on her arm.  
That new boyfriend?  
None other than Justin.  
Because that’s salt in your wound.  
You’d been okay, but you wanted to leave. He still hasn’t talked to you since the break up, and you didn’t really feel up to conversing with him at the moment.  
Unfortunately, the bus to T’Challa’s apartment would not be arriving for another hour, so you two walked. Then, it started to rain. Hard. Hence why you are now spending the night at T’Challa’s apartment.  
‘’I am. I mean, it hurt a little bit at first, but I’m over it now. I’m fine,;; you shrug, laying your head on T’Challa’s shoulder, ‘’You?’’  
‘’I am. What Tessa and I had may be over, but I’ve still got you. So I would say that I am the real winner in the situation.’’  
There’s silence then as you both chew on the pizza, listening to the rain and thunder outside.  
He places a kiss to your forehead, like he always does, but this time when he pulls away, you pull him back in.  
Your eyes ask for permission, and he nods, as if he can read his mind.  
You’re learning in further and further until…  
You hear the door opening, and you find yourself both wishing Okoye would have stayed out longer and silently thanking her before you ruined your friendship with T’Challa.  
This was one of those moments that got away from you.  
And you spend the rest of your night what would have happened if all of the events of the day had happened just a few seconds sooner.   
The rest of the semester is pretty uneventful. You study together, he gets good grades, you get good grades. You hang out with Anthony and Alyssa, and he promises to call you over Christmas break. He does, you make plans to hang out as soon as you’re back on campus.  
When you do meet up again, you have a two hour catch up session. He tells you all about Shuri and her latest antics, about his mother and dad. You talk to him about your family and things happening back home. He also asks you to the school’s winter fundraiser dance as friends, and you accept.  
‘’You look incredible,’’ T’Challa tells you, admiring you in your black, floor length, long sleeved dress.  
‘’What, this old thing,,’’ you joke, attempting to stop your heart from beating as fast as it is.   
Because T’Challa looks amazing in his tux as he takes you back to your door, hand in yours,  
As friends.  
That’s all you are.  
You constantly have to remind yourself of that.  
The hall is pretty empty, with most people out on a lovely, January, Saturday night.  
‘’Hey… can we talk for a moment?’’  
He turns to you, nodding, and letting you lead him into your single bed dorm.  
And that’s where it happens. There’s no epic moment, no birds, no music, no rain. You can hear the old school music your neighbors are playing, and you can hear the couple next on the other side of you loudly playing Monopoly.   
But you don’t care. Because you’re in the middle of the dorm room, with T’Challa’s lips on yours, his hands on your waist as he pulls you closer to his body.  
‘’I thought you wanted to talk,’’ he breathes out before bringing his lips back to yours.  
‘’Later, We’ll talk later,’’ you sigh, then pull him back into the kiss.  
And the moment is perfect.   
It’s wonderful.  
It’s hot and romantic and long awaited and you’re not sure why you were so hesitant to give this a chance.  
Because his lips are made for yours and you’re sure.  
‘’Wait, what does this mean,’’ T’Challa asks breathing heavily as he rests his forehead against yours, ‘’Are we together now?’’  
In a way, you feel like you always have been. He’s always been there for you, and you for him. Timing was never right, and you were never opened to this idea until now.  
Because he’s your best friend when your worlds apart, he’s your best friend when you’re right next to each other, and he’d continue to be your best friend even if this didn’t work out.  
So the real question is this: Are you ready to dive in?  
Senior Year  
Time changes.  
People change.  
Minds change.  
Like the seasons, most things are not permanent. Unlike the seasons, people don’t always work how you expect them to.  
Which is why it’s a surprise to you in the May of your junior year when Justin returns, asking you to get back together.   
What’s not a surprise is when T’Challa is approached my Tessa, who makes the same request in the August of your senior year.  
It’s no surprise that this leads to both you and T’Challa screaming at each other, crying, voices breaking and resolves shaking.  
It’s not a surprise that you don’t speak to him for quite a while, and he doesn’t speak to you, until Okoye lets you both know that you are being difficult and need to talk.  
It is a surprise when you’re laughing with him again, and it’s just like old times. You wipe the It’s not a surprise that you can feel graduation fast approaching, and neither of you have decided what to do about the situation.  
It’s not a surprise that life happens, and that you and T’Challa don’t really talk about the situation until it’s almost too late.  
You weigh all of the reasons that it could work- you’re good together, you like each other, you’re attracted, you really care about each other.  
You weigh all of the reasons that it could not work- he’ll be moving back to Wakanda, Tessa and Justin are still people you have strong feelings for, timing has never been right for you too, it seems like it won’t work.  
So, with a month left until graduation, you make your choice.  
And you both try not to second guess where it leaves you too.  
Graduation Day  
You’re walking the stone path one last time, relishing in all of the memories that you made on this campus. Some good, some bad. It’s where you where when T’Challa got news that his parents could make it to graduation. It’s where you found out that you got hired for that teaching job. It’s where you found your heart. It’s where you broke it. It’s where you had so many firsts and lasts.  
‘’Babe,’’ your boyfriend pipes up, ‘’Graduation is beginning in thirty minutes. We need to line up.’’  
‘’Coming, honey,’’ you sigh, taking his hand and letting him lead you back to the arena.  
‘’I must go take my spot. But I will see you as soon as this is over,’’ he presses a kiss to your lips, ‘’I love you.’’  
‘’I love you, too.’’  
You are not sure what the future holds.  
You don’t even know what tomorrow holds.  
All you know is that you have the love of your life, T’Challa Udaku by your side, so you will take things as they come. And he’s got you.  
And you’re so thankful for the day that he spilled coffee on you.  
And for the day that you decided to take a chance and dive in. 

DISCLAIMER- I own none of the Marvel Characters or any fictional worlds- they belong to their rightful and respectful owners.


End file.
